Family Ties
by Munchkin25
Summary: Munch's niece joins the squad during a high profile case! While the two are trying to settle differences between eachother, parts of the victim's family's past are revealed. And I do not own the characters and such!
1. Proluge

Okay my homies, pals, mates and/or other people from around the world!

This is my first story for Law and Order SVU. I am a Munch fan so some of them might be Munch-Focused if you know what I mean, with the exception of maybe a couple stories.

Of course I do not own the characters, music, places in New York City (I don't know if Joe's Coffee shop exist. I live in the Midwest.), or anything else pertaining to the show. But I do own Amy Munch (I'm not even sure if I own the "Munch" part of her name), Detective Leena and the made up names of suspects and other characters, so please do not use them!

I think that's it? oh well. on with the show!


	2. Chapter 1: Along came the newbie

_**"In the criminal justice system, sexually based offenses are considered especially heinous. In New York City, the dedicated detectives who investigate these vicious felonies are members of an elite squad known as the Special Victims Unit. These are their stories."**_

SVU Squad room

May 16, 2005

"Excuse me," said a short girl with her hair in a ponytail and wearing what looked like transition lenses, "Can you tell me where I can find Capt. Cragen?"

Olivia Benson, who was doing some paperwork, looked up. "He is on a coffee break, but I can help you."

"Umm...okay. I got transferred from the Bronx Homicide Unit to here. They told me to see him about joining SVU."

Benson looked at the girl. She was smaller than her and young too. She was wearing black cargo pants and a navy blue hoodie. Benson was not sure about her joining unit. However, if she said she was being transferred to here...

"Well then follow me."

Benson made her through the midst of phones ringing, overloaded desks, and snack bar to Cragen's office. "He'll be back shortly, so just wait here for the time being." She shut the door and made her way back to her desk.

Elliot Stabler, who had just came in, put a coffee cup on her desk. He had just come back from Central Park from a rape homicide that he was investigating. "You look puzzled," he said.

"Some young girl just came in. She said she was transferring from the Bronx Homicide Unit to here. It just doesn't make any sense though. Why would anyone transfer such a young person to this unit?" she asked.

"Beats me," he replied. Stabler sat down and began fiddling through papers while Benson looked at Cragen's office.

**Family Ties**

Captain Donald Cragen walked into the SVU precinct with a hat in one hand and a coffee cup in another. He wondered what the day would bring ahead. It was always something new in his precinct.

As he walked in to the office, Benson called to him. "Hey Cap! Someone's in your office. Wants to talk to you about joining the unit."

"Who is it from?"

"Bronx Homicide Unit."

"Ah...okay. So any new developments on our rape homicide?"

Stabler quit looking through his papers. "Well we're still waiting for the results from the M.E."

Cragen took a sip of his coffee. "Okay you two head for the M.E.'s office. Where's Munch and Fin?"

Stabler began to laugh. "Munch called me while I was investigating. Seems they're having car trouble so he said they're going to be running late."

Cragen rolled his eyes. "It's about time John got his own car." He made his way to his office while Benson and Stabler left for the M.E.'s office.

M.E. Warner's Office

At Warner's office she began telling them what she had found. "I couldn't find any DNA on her. Sounds like your perp used some type of chemical to wiped her down, probably in post-mortem. She was beaten up pretty badly. She got bruises on her face and stomach. There was some trauma to the vaginal area, but that was all I could find. I think the chemical may have washed off prints too."

"He must have hated this girl in order to do that much damage. Can you at least you tell who she is?" asked Stabler

"Sixteen year old female. I ran her prints through the system and her birth certificate came up. She is the daughter of Alex Rosewater."

Benson looked dumbfounded. "What? You've gotta be kidding me. Who would rape and beat the city's most powerful political figure's daughter?"

"Somebody with a grudge," said Stabler.

SVU squad room

Cragen was still not sure about this girl. She seemed too young for this kind of work. The last thing he needed was Internal Affairs coming down to his office and saying that he had a cop who had a mental break down because of the job. He kept pressing her with questions and she kept answering, "Yes, I really do want to join."

"You're sure?" he asked for fifth time.

"Yes sir, I really do want to join. Give me a chance," said the girl.

He hesitated before he gave her a paper to sign. He then recorded her badge number down. "Okay I guess you're in..."

"Amy Munch, sir."

Cragen blinked. "Say that name again please?"

"Amy Munch."

"Are you by any chance related to John Munch?"

Amy frowned. Was her uncle her in this precinct! It couldn't be! She thought he was still in Baltimore all this time! She thought twice before giving Cragen her answer. "Yeah, we're related. I'm his niece. We're semi-close."

Cragen shooked his head. "This is wonderful. Does he know that you transferred here?

"Actually no. We lost contact about six years ago."

"Ahhh...in other words you hate each other and speaking of the devil, here he is now."

Detectives John Munch and Tutuola Fin walked into the precinct into a heated argument. "You idiot!" he yelled, "You should have got your piece of mechanical junk fixed!"

"Kinda hard when I have to pick up a lazy bum off the streets every single day!" countered Fin.

"Me! A lazy bum! Take that and your piece of mechanical junk back to your apartment filled with nothing, but gadgets! You probably would have enough money to fix your damn car if you didn't spend on junk like that!" roared Munch.

"If you're that jealous, why don't you take up a paper route book boy, and get yourself a thirty inch plasma screen TV!"

"THAT'S IT!" cried Munch and slammed into Fin. They both wrestled on the ground while Amy and Cragen watched, with some embarrassment, from Cragen's office. "You think you can separate those two before they wreck the whole station house?" he asked.

"I think I can try."

"Good because I'm going to enjoy my cup of coffee," and shut his office door. Amy made her way to the quarreling couple. So far Munch had two black eyes and Fin had one. They both had nosebleeds too plus they were knocking things over.

"ALL RIGHT! THAT'S ENOUGH! BOTH OF YOU QUIT YOUR STUPID FIGHTING AND STAND UP!" she yelled.

They both continued to fight. She sighed and gave up. She went to where the coffee bar was and took a jug of ice water. She walked back toward them and poured all over them.

"CENSORED!" they both cried.

Rosewater Residents

Hotel Room 38, Trump Tower

One Central Park West, upper west side

Ding Dong!

"This is the worst part of the job," said Benson sadly.

"Especially if they're a rich family," said Stabler.

The doors open and after showing their badges to a maid, they were led into a family room.

"May I ask what this is about?" she asked.

"We just need to see Mr. and Mrs. Rosewater," said Stabler.

She bowed and left them alone in the room. Stabler and Benson look around in the room. It was really nicely decorated.

"This place is pretty nice, Elliot. Did you see that chandelier?"

"Yeah, its gotta to be worth over five grand at least." Stabler moved over to the mantle of the fireplace. "Looks like she went to a prep school. She's got a uniform on."

"She goes to St. Mary's Prep School. I only give the best for my daughter," said a voice.

A man in a white suit walked into the room with a woman. The woman had an eye patch over her right eye. "I am Alex Rosewater and this is my wife Vera. May I asked what this about?" said the man.

"We're detectives Benson and Stabler from SVU," said Benson. "This isn't easy for me to say, but we found your daughter this morning in Central Park. She was murder last night."

There was silence then the wife began to cry. Rosewater stood there emotionless. "Please leave us to mourn," he said and called his maid to escort them out.

"Man that was one of the most horrible things I ever did," said Benson outside.

"Did you see the look on the father's face after we told him how she died?" asked Stabler, "It was as if he didn't care. He was so cold. If that would have been my daughter, I would have broke down crying."

"You think he had something to do with it," said Benson.

"Wouldn't be the first time now wouldn't it?"

SVU squad room

"What the..." began Benson and Stabler.

The office was a mess. There were papers scattered everywhere, chairs knocked over, computers on the floor, and Munch was on the floor picking up the pieces of his Hawaiian hula doll. "Of all the things that had to break, it had to be you my precious," he said miserably.

The new kid, Munch, and Fin were cleaning up the mess. Munch and Fin looked wet because of their clothes while the new kid looked dry. Munch and Fin also had Kleenexes to their noses from the nose bleeds. "What the hell happen?" asked Stabler dumbfounded and began to walked forward, but Munch stopped him.

"Stop!" he said. You might be stepping on pieces of my Hawaiian doll!"

Fin grumbled. "Well shouldn't have tackled me then and it wouldn't have broken!"

"Why don't you shut up Fin!"

Amy, sensing a fight, stepped between them. "Why don't you both shut up? Thanks to you, not only do you two have to clean up this mess, but I have to! You should be ashamed of yourselves. Two grown men fighting. Pfft! I've seen high school kids that have done better and their fights were much more entertaining than what I saw today! Get a freakin' life already!"

Stabler was trying hard not to laugh. "These two actually had a fist fight? Man that would have been something to see. Sounds like Munch landed one black eye on you Fin and Munch got a double whammy on his face from you."

"Well since you think its funny Elliot then why don't you and your partner help these three clean up the mess?" said Cragen walking out of his office.

Few hours later...

"That's the last of the papers," said Benson while giving a glance to Stabler.

Indeed, the office was almost back to its normal self. Unfortunately, Munch and Fin were still not on good terms with each other. The pair was still mad at each other and miserable too since their clothes were wet. Amy went upstairs and got some clothes for both of them; an NYPD sweatshirt and pants.

"Here. At least they're dry. I'm sorry what I did to guys earlier. It was the only way to separate you two," she said. "I'll order take out just to make it up to you, including you two and the captain.

Munch groaned at the outfit. He hated wearing this stuff! "This is not my style," he complained.

"Oh shut up," said Amy.

"What did you do to them?" asked Benson.

"Pour ice water over them," she said tossing a pair to Fin.

"So that's why it's missing."

"Sorry."

"So what's your name anyway?"

"Amy."

"Amy…"

"I just like to be called Amy. My last name is killer to pronounce and that's saying a lot from me," Amy said.

"Okay now that we've gotten to know each other," said Cragen walking out from his office, "tell me what you guys know on the case."

"Well the perp really hated this girl," began Stabler. "He went through the trouble of beating her to a pulp. This guy was careful too. He brought some chemical to clean her body up afterwards. M.E. couldn't find any prints."

"Wonderful," said Cragen sarcastically. "Anything else?"

"She is the daughter of Alex Rosewater."

Cragen stood there in silence. "You've got to be kidding me," he finally said. "Once the media gets wind of this, they'll go crazy. Who would actually kill the Rosewaters' daughter?"

Just then the phone rang. Fin picked it up while Stabler was giving his theory to Cragen. Fin then hung up. "Cap that was the M.E.'s office. Said she found something that might interest us."

"Well then you and Munch take the new girl with you. You probably need to get out of the office any way."

"What about us?" asked Benson.

"You and Stabler can clean up what's left of the mess then find out where she went to school."

M.E. Warner's Office

"What happen to you two?" Warner asked Fin.

Munch, Fin, and Amy had just walked in. Munch's eyes had both swollen and so was Fin's eye. "Books fell," he muttered. "This is Amy." Fin pointed to her.

"Hi," she said

"Hi, nice to meet you Amy. Welcome to the club. So...I did find a partial fingerprint. The probability of the match is an 8.7 but it should tell us who it is."

They walked over to the computer and Warner typed in a few buttons. A few minutes later, a match came up."

"T. J. Simmons. Previous record states he tried to swindle the Rosewaters out of some money. He lives in the Bronx."

"What?" said Amy and looked at the computer.The Latino looked very familiar to her.

"Yeah that's what it says. Something wrong?"

"No. Thanks," said Munch.

"You might want to put ice on those eyes you two," Warner said as they left her office.

Outside, Amy pulled out her cell and began to call someone.

"Who are you calling?" asked Munch.

"A good friend of mine. If I remember right, she was the one who handle that case. Maybe she can help us shed some light." She got a connection to who she was calling.

"Hey Leena! I need a favor."

Bronx Homicide squad room

Amy had one good friend she could trust back in her precinct, Leena. She was thirty years old while Amy was twenty-four, so they acted like close sisters. They would hang out from time to time and help each other on cases. Amy never had that many great memories from Bronx. The times she hung out with Leena were some of her happiest times though and that was the only thing Amy regretted when she transferred from the Bronx.

Amy walked in. "It is still chaotic even when I'm not around," she smirked.

Phones were ringing, people were running around, people shouting that the coffee wasn't made, and radios were crackling. Leena was standing there, in khaki capri pants and wearing a black hoodie. "Feeling home sick, Amy?" she asked.

"I guess. Did you find me that file?"

"Yeah. I don't know why you're taking an interest in this case now. Its been closed for quite sometime."

Amy shrugged. "Something came up on a case that I'm working on right now. I guess he swindle the Rosewaters or somethin?"

"He did more than swindle," said Leena, "he literally robbed them from some $500,000."

"That's chump change for the Rosewaters. I guess it threaten some secret of theirs."

"Not only that, but I think Simmons knew the Rosewaters daughter. I think he was the boyfriend."

Amy thought for a minute, and then said, "Can I borrow that file?"

"Sure. Take it. I have no use for it now."

Amy took the file from her. "Thanks girl. You've been a great help. I owe you one." She turned and left.

"You can repay me with a drink!" Leena shouted to her.

St. Mary's Prep School

Corner of W. 106th Street and Amsterdam Avenue

Upper West Side

"Nice place," said Benson getting out from the car.

This prep school was unlike other prep school in NYC. Only the elite crowd of kids went here. Many actors, politicians, and other big hot shots with tons of cash sent their kids here because of the excellent, but high cost education.

"Man I would have to sell everything I had just one of my kids into this place," whispered Stabler.

They walked inside the building. The inside was just as impressive as the outside. Paintings and pictures were riddled across the wall, apparently illustrating the school's past. A big stain glass window was at the end of the corridor, lighting the whole room in a bunch of different colors.

It was also passing period too. There were plenty of kids running about in the hall going to their lockers, talking to friends, or heading straight to the last class of the school day. A teacher saw the two detectives in the hall and went toward them.

"May I help you?" she asked with some stuffiness in her voice.

"I'm Detective Stabler and this is my partner Olivia Benson. We need to see the principal and ask him a few questions," Stabler said.

"Down the hall, to your right," she replied with the same stuffiness. She walked away from them.

"Friendly," said Benson looking at her.

They made their way down the hall to the right. The Main Office was small and cramped. The secretary showed them to the principal's office and went back to her seat. Benson knocked on the door.

"Mr. Fuller. Detectives Benson and Stabler. We want to talk about a girl who went to school here named Angel Rosewater."

He answered the door. Mr. Fuller was a short and lanky man. He was going bald at the top and spoke in a timid voice. "I...I...I don't know any girl by such a name. Now if you will please excuse me, I need to finish..."

"She's dead Mr. Fuller. We need to ask a few questions pertaining to her death. Now if you can help us out..."

"Most unfortunate. Now excuse..." He began to close the door, but Stabler stopped him. Mr. Fuller squeaked in surprised.

"Look," said Stabler menacingly, "There's a dead girl out there who died a horrible death at such a young age. We know she went to this school. If you know something and you're not telling us what it is, we can charge you with obstruction."

"Okay...okay...I'll talk," he said cowering before them. Fuller sat behind his desk and folded his hands. He began to tap his feet when he told them what he knew.

"She was a sweet girl, Angel. Always such a cheerful and bright student, but her father never shows her caring and love. The mother always encouraged her, but she was an overachiever. Her parents were always so strict. She spend many times at her locker. It was as if it was her room. She kept the strangest things in there, like something you would keep in a room."

"One day I got a call from her father. He said she was being moved to another school. I asked him why but he didn't tell me an answer. I then ask him where she would be going so I could transfer her books and stuff there, but he ignore that too. I thought he didn't like the way we were teaching so I never press the matter."

Stabler looked at him. "Yeah right. They were going to clobber you up if you did," he thought. "Did she have any friends?" he asked.

"No. She always kept to herself. Never caused any trouble."

"We'll also need to search her locker if it hasn't been cleaned out yet," said Benson.

"It was going to get cleaned out today, but I guess it wouldn't hurt if you looked at."

"This is the locker," said Stabler. He took out the key and open it.

"Holy CENSORED," said Benson and moved out of the way.

Her locker was a mess. All her books fell out along with pictures, papers, and personal items like make-up.

"She was a pack rat. Kept everything here that she didn't want know one know she had. Seems like a smart thing to do especially with that father of hers who probably snooped around. Wonder if he made the call to clean her locker out?"

"Well let's bag this up and take it back with us," said Stabler.

SVU squad room

The sun had set and night was settling. Cragen was analyzing his day. One newbie cop had join, had broken up a fight between two of his veteran cops, a politician that may have murder his own daughter and best of all he was getting a free meal at the expense of the newbie cop. "What would happen next?" he thought.

A lot can happen, especially when the newbie cop is being asked by Munch a hundred times if his clothes were still wet. Unlike Fin, who only got a little bit wet, Munch got soaked. So his clothes were taking forever to dry and he hated wearing sweats. "This is not my style," he complained to her.

"I know that and for the last time, John, they are still wet in one spot! Now stop acting like a baby for pete sake and eat your lo mein."

"But..."

Amy took his chop sticks, grab some lo mein, and stuffed lo mein noodles in his mouth. He glared at her with his mouth full of lo mein. "Your food is getting cold so eat it," she said without looking at him. He began to chew slowly.

"I still don't get these two fighting," said Stabler. "You two fighting is like a pig trying to fly. It doesn't make any sense."

Benson looked over her carton of fried rice. "Oh drop that already Elliot. They fought, they paid for it, and they learned their lesson, didn't you guys?"

Munch and Fin both nodded their heads. Stabler was still shaking his head, smirking. Then Fin began to get bent out of shape because he thought Munch ate his fortune cookie. Amy tossed an extra one at him and told them both to shut up if they didn't want coffee all over them. They both sighed and went back to eating. "Geez, you two have raging hormones," she muttered to herself.

Fin grumbled and read his fortune " 'Your life will be filled with happiness.' Yeah right." He crumpled the fortune. "So tell us what you guys found," he said.

"Well after we confiscated everything in evidence bags, we found that she had a picture of her boyfriend, a diary, and a phone number that had no name on it. Besides all that, she had stuff that usual girls have like make-up and such," said Stabler.

"So it's either her boyfriend or her father that killed her. We don't know Simmons motive is but it sounds like her father had some. She was dating the guy that try to swindle him. But it doesn't make any sense. Why go through all the trouble to kill his own daughter to make Simmons suffer? With the power he had, he could have thrown him out on the street. Politicians never make any sense," sighed Benson.

"Since when does politics and/or politicians make any sense," said Munch and everyone began to groan as he went into one of his wild conspiracy theories dealing with politicians and how they would kill their own families just to keep a secret from being known to the public.

Soon everyone had left leaving only Amy and Cragen in the squad room. She went to his office and knocked on the door.

"Can I have a minute?" she asked.

"Sure," he said. "What do you want?"

"I have no place to stay Cap. I'm...well...poor I guess," she said with slight embarrassment. "Do you have any accommodations I can stay in the squad room?"

He looked at her. "Sure, upstairs. I gotta question though. Did Munch know that it was you today?"

"If he did, he had a funny way of showing it. Didn't look at me at all today."

"Whatever happened to your real parents?" he asked.

"I'd rather not discuss that. Although I will say that their motivation sorta drove me to become a cop."

"Ahhh…okay. I guess you're going to work on the case then since you'll be staying."

"Yeah. Then I'll go to bed at nine, wake up early before anyone comes in, get in my car and drive out then come in again in around 8:00. Is that okay?"

"I guess you did this all the time in your precinct, so I have no trouble with it."

"Thanks and please don't tell anyone else what I said to you," she said and Amy left his office. She went upstairs and turned on one of the showers.

He smiled to her. "She was different, that kid," he thought. Cragen took his coat and hat and began to leave when someone grab him by the shoulder. Cragen wheeled around. Munch was standing there behind him in his black hat and trench coat. "What the…!" Cragen began to shout.

"Shhhh! I waited until Amy was taking a shower so she wouldn't hear us. Cap she's…"

"I already know John. I'm not going to tell anyone alright? However, she is staying here for the night. She's poor John. She has nowhere to go."

"She's an orphan. Her parents died in a car accident. Her father, my brother, died instantly, but her mother died in the hospital. She survived. She said that they were being chased by some idiots who had nothing else to do and tried to run them off on the road."

"And they never found the CENSOREDs," said Cragen.

"Yeah. Of course I could have gain legal custody, but I was still in homicide. I didn't want to pick her up after school and bring her to my work environment. I didn't want her to become more stressed out after her parents' death because I would always work late trying to figure out how people died and who killed them. I worked in Baltimore then when I found out, so I thought I could placed her in a New York orphanage. I thought that was the safest place for her."

"But when I did that, I didn't realize how mad she would be at me. Then she turn eighteen six years ago and left early on her birthday. She left me a letter saying she never wanted to see me again. I left it at that. I never went looking for her. I always wonder what happen to her though."

"Nice. Well it sounds you're being sent a second chance to make up to her, John. There is no doubt in my mind that her hate for you is probably tearing her apart and it probably makes it worse since she hates her only living family member. If I were you, I would have a chat with her sometime soon. Explain why you put her in an orphanage. It's not too late, John."

Cragen put on his hat and left the building, leaving Munch to ponder in his thoughts in the dark. He heard the water being turned off and it startled him. Munch then left the building swiftly and silently without making his presence known.

Amy still was not in the precinct when Stabler, Benson, Munch, and Fin walked in. Cragen came in early that morning. He needed to have a talk with Munch and Fin about their mischief in the office from yesterday.

Munch and Fin walked in. The swelling of their black eyes had gone down quite a bit, but they still hadn't apologized to each other. Cragen walked out from his office. "You two, in my office now," he said with malice.

Munch and Fin hung up their coats and went into his office. Cragen closed the door and pulled down the shades. Moments later, yelling could be heard and Stabler and Benson knew what that meant.

"He's pist," said Benson.

"Yup. Let's not get on his bad side today," said Stabler.

"Right."

Meanwhile in the office...

"I'm going to make this quick. WHAT YOU GUYS DID YESTERDAY IS UNACCEPTABLE IN THIS OFFICE! YOU'RE LUCKY I'M NOT GONNA SUSPEND YOUR PAYCHECKS FOR THIS WHOLE ENTIRE MONTH! DISPLAY CONDUCT LIKE THAT AGAIN IN MY STATION HOUSE AND I PROMISE YOU I'LL SUSPEND YOUR PAYCHECKS FOR THE ENTIRE MONTH, YOU HEAR ME! AND ANOTHER THING; WATCH OVER YOUR NEW PARTNER!"

Munch and Fin looked at the floor and said in small voices, "Yes sir."

"I DIDN'T HEAR YOU!"

"Yes sir," they said louder.

"NOW GET OUT AND NOT A WORD TO THE OTHERS!"

Munch and Fin did not need to be told twice. They left swiftly from Cragen's office. Stabler abruptly stopped laughing at once when he saw them walking out of Cragen's office. They sat down at their desks, not looking at each other for quite sometime.

"Did I miss something?" asked someone.

Casey Novak walked into the precinct. She was the ADA that prosecuted the criminals that they caught. Everyone was confused because they didn't even call her unless...

"I got a call from some Detective Amy. Said she was going to question a suspect that live in the Bronx and ask me to go here to tell her partners that. She also asked me for a warrant so we could search the place for evidence."

Munch and Fin looked up from their desks. "WHAT!" they both shouted. They jumped out of their chairs, grab their coats and left.

Stabler looked at them running out of the squad room and then at Novak. "You didn't miss anything except Munch and Fin fighting yesterday and Cragen telling them off for it."

"Ahhhhh. And now I'm telling them that their partner went to the suspect's place with out telling them just made their day," said Novak.

Cragen heard some commotion outside his office. He walked out of his office and saw Novak. "What are you doing here? And why did Munch and Fin run out of here so quickly?" he asked.

"Oh CENSORED," muttered Benson. "Uhh Captain...Novak is here because she got Amy a warrant to search a suspect's place."

There was silence. Then...

"I DO NOT NEED THIS IN THE MORNING!" he bellowed and went back to his office and slammed the door.

"That went well," said Benson amused to Cragen's reaction. "Wanna cup of coffee, Casey?"


	3. Chapter 2: Revv up and ready to go

Theodore Johnson Simmons' Apartment

331 Westchester Avenue

Bronx, New York

May 17, 2005

Amy had made a breakthrough in the case. After she left the station house, she made her way to ADA Novak's office. She asked for a warrant and an hour later got it to search Simmons' place. The connection between Rosewater and Simmons stood out like a sore thumb.

And so did her car. She drove a silver Mitsubishi Eclipse. She inherited it when her parents died. Munch recognized the car and motion to Fin to pull over. Amy saw them coming and climbed out of the car with the warrant Novak had given to her.

"You are suppose to tell us these things, not run straight to the ADA. When the Captain finds out, he'll be furious with you! Don't ever do that again!" yelled Munch.

"You idiot, be quiet! I came here alone because I had a feeling he was going to flee! He is the only connection we have to this case. If he fled the country because of Rosewater, then the case is screwed. I know what I did was stupid, but I had to come here just to make sure. His tenant said he hasn't moved out yet. So that's when I called Casey and told her to go to the precinct and get you guys to come and help me," said Amy angrily. "I'm sorry."

Fin looked at Munch then looked at her. "It's okay. We just got worried and we were frustrated that you didn't even call us. Just don't do that again okay? The last thing we need is for Cragen to have a heart attack."

They walked into the building and went to the second floor where Simmons lived in apartment 2B. Fin knocked on the door. "Simmons! This is the police! We have a warrant to search your place!"

There was some movement inside and then it stopped. The three looked at each other and nodded. They pulled out their guns and Amy and Fin kicked the door down.

A whistling sound could be heard from somewhere in the apartment. Munch went to an open window and saw Simmons escaping down the fire escape to a car below in an alleyway. "CENSORED!" yelled Munch. "He's getting away! HE'S GETTING AWAY!"

Amy put her gun away. She then turned heel and left the apartment. She slid down the banister and ran out of the apartment complex to her car. Munch and Fin looked at each other and they both yelled, "Go! I'll stay and secure the place and call for back up!" They looked at each other for a moment and finally Fin pulled out his cell phone and began to call for the extra support.

Munch put his gun away and ran out of the apartment. He ran down the stairs, jumping the last few, and made a mad dash to her car and clambered inside the passenger seat. "Can you wait for just one second!" he cried.

"No. Seatbelt on?"

Munch hastened to put his seatbelt on. "Yes! Now go!" he shouted. Simmons pulled out of the alleyway and accelerated out of it. Amy put the car in gear and went after him.

Now Munch was not a big fan of speeding, especially in unsafe road conditions. So he began to feel a little sick every time Amy would take a sharp turn or hit the acceleration pedal. He managed to grab the radio and put in an emergency call. "Suspect is fleeing 331 Westchester Avenue. He is now turning onto Southern Blvd! He's heading for I-87! Set up a road block immediately!" He began to moan and put up the radio.

"Don't even think about getting sick John! You'll be paying for the expenses if you mess up the interior in this car! Think of something else to take your mind off it!" yelled Amy.

"Like what! Me chasing you with a jug of ice water if we survive this! Slow down!" he moaned.

Amy was now doing easily 85 mph just to keep up with him. He weaved in and out of other cars and so did Amy. Munch began to turn green. Then they saw the road block up ahead. Simmons saw it too and slammed breaks. So did Amy and she turned the car into a position in which he couldn't turn around and back out. Simmons gave up and turn off the car. Cops had guns pointed in his direction. Amy got out and screamed "DON'T SHOOT HIM! HE'S A SUSPECT! DON'T SHOOT! HOLD YOUR FIRE!"

She pulled out her gun and ran to his car. She pointed it at him. "Get out!" she yelled. Simmons slowly got out of the car. She grabbed him and put handcuffs on him. She walked him over to the other cops. "Get him out of here!" she cried.

She then ran back to her car. Munch had the passenger side door opened. He was getting some air when she came running to him.

"I'm okay. Just don't do that ever again okay? Please, my life depends on it," he wheezed.

"What's the matter, John? Can't stomach the need for speed?" she said.

"I hate speeding."

Amy cell phone rang. She pulled it out and answered it. She then took it away from her ear. Cragen was shouting to her.

"Damn, he's pist. What did you guys do to make him this mad in the morning?"

Munch looked at her. "Before we left, he yelled at Fin and me about yesterday. You just made his day when you went straight to the ADA without telling any of us what you had on this guy."

"Well, apparently the media got a hold of the car chasing we just did. He's yelling at me for being a reckless driver. But I wasn't doing reckless driving," protested Amy.

"Doing 85 in a 40 mph zone isn't reckless driving!" Munch asked incredulously.

"Not unless you have to keep up with a fleeing suspect."

"You're insane!" he cried.

SVU Squad room

The three walked back into the squad room. Cragen was furious now. The newbie cop went to the ADA without coming to him first and presenting what she found out. The whole case now could have been jeopardized and Internal Affairs would be coming down to his office any second. When he saw them walk in, he walked out of his office and pointed to Amy. "You, in my office now!"

She walked in and he slammed the door. "Nice going. The media got a hold of the wonderful driving you just did!" He hissed. "You do realize that once Internal Affairs comes down, they'll literally drag your ass out of here before I can save it! You've done a good job already of screwing up and going back to homicide. And this is your second day too, a new record in my unit. I'm suspending your pay for a couple of days. Do you understand?"

"Yes," she said. "But you do realize why I did it?"

"Yeah, I understand why you did it. However, you could have jeopardize the case by the actions you did. The ADA might have a hard time prosecuting now. You're lucky I'm not suspending a whole week of pay. However, I gotta punish you somehow so that way Internal Affairs doesn't come down here and ask why I didn't."

"Thanks," she said. "May I leave now?"

"I guess," he said.

She opened the door and left his office.

"She's alive," joked Stabler.

"Keep that up Elliot, and you won't be in the next five seconds," snarled Amy.

Benson laughed and said "Ouch. She's learning fast, Elliot."

Amy sat at her desk and began fiddling on her computer then brought up a document she typed last night.

"Okay. While you guys were at home and doing nothing, I was figuring out why Simmons was in the middle of this mess. Apparently Angel ran away from her home and went to Simmons' apartment. Simmons knew Angel from school and they had been secretly dating. I guess they were running low on money so Simmons decided to swindle the Rosewaters out of 500 grand." "However, Angel decided to go a step further and she threaten her dad that she report his drug smuggling schemes to the FBI and the press. So I'm figuring that Daddy decided to kill his daughter. He threatens Simmons to help him so Simmons drops her off in the park and then Rosewater came to finish the job."

Everybody looked at her. Benson and Stabler were shaking their heads. Fin, laughing, said "Rosewater smuggling drugs into the country? Yeah right. Ladies and Gentlemen, behold the future Munch-like character, complete with conspiracy theories and doubts in the government."

Amy glared at him. "Then how do you explain why he has his own port and security hmmm Fin? Let me finish explaining. I guess Rosewater change his mind and decided to kill our little friend that we have in custody. The file that my friend gave me had a little side note saying that Rosewater had been calling the place for quite sometime when she did a follow up to make sure Simmons' was paying all the money he owed him."

"How do you know he smuggles drugs?" asked Novak.

"That little journal she had in her locker. She had dates when his new shipment came in that port of his and usually that's when she would go out."

Novak walked over to her computer and saw what she had. "Okay. So he tries to kill both of them and then he flees the country through his own port after he disposes them. It's a farfetched theory, but it does answer some things like the partial fingerprint on the victim's body. Let's ask Simmons himself."

"You're actually buying this?" asked Fin. "No offense, Amy, but your theory is just way outta whack."

"Then does anyone else have a theory they can offer? Because I'm tired of you guys picking on the newbie. Let's get some results here before the some guy gets away with murder," said Cragen walking out of his office. He pointed to Amy and Stabler. "You two take a crack at him."

"Why can't I?" asked Munch.

"I have a feeling you might slug the guy after he made you sick with his car chase act, John," said Cragen with an amused smile on his face.

Munch frowned at Cragen.

"He looks happy," said Novak.

Simmons was sitting at a table, frowning. Once in a while he would mutter a few things, but for the most part he remained silent. Novak was looking from Cragen to Amy. She wasn't sure that Amy should go in and question this guy. After all, she was the newbie.

After Stabler shut the door, Novak asked Cragen if he was doing the right thing. "Of course I am. I'm just testing the new kid's nerve, that's all."

Novak shook her head. "You never ceased to surprise me," she said and began to watch what was happening.

"So is it T.J. or Theodore?" asked Stabler to Simmons.

"T.J." he replied.

"You know," began Stabler, "That was some pretty cool driving from what Detective Amy is telling me. So why did you flee the police when they arrived, hmm? I mean we weren't sent to kill you or anything like that for that matter."

"I didn't do anything," replied Simmons.

"Well if you didn't do anything, then why didja flee from us? We were just going to ask you a few questions about your girlfriend named Angel," said Amy.

"Because I...,"

"Bull! Don't even start with your excuses! Somebody was going to kill you and you know it! That's why you fled, wasn't it? Hey Elliot, tell him what we found in his apartment."

Elliot began to count the items on his fingers they had found. "Well we found an airplane tickets, some clothes belonging to a girl, a murder weapon,..."

"We were going to flee the country so that's why I had those and I did not kill her."

"Kill who? Who didn't you kill T.J.!" exclaimed Amy.

"Angel!" yelled Simmons. He looked at both of them and sighed. "Angel was my girl friend in that prep school. Unfortunately, I got kicked out because of a fight I got in. A couple days later she arrives on my doorstep asking if she can live with me. Said she ran away from her place. So I invited her in. We were getting along for two months. Then one day she comes home with one of those tuition bills. We barely had any money. She had her bank card with her, so she ran to the bank and got 500 grand to pay for it and to support us for a couple months until she found a decent job."

"Then her father found out. He kept calling us, threatening us to give it back. Angel decided to retaliate and use his drug smuggling scheme to prevent him from threatening us. He told the police and took me to court and they ruled that I owned every penny back to him. I guess it still wasn't enough for him so called me while she was at school one day. He told me to bring her to the park because he wanted to talk to her. That's last time I heard of her. He seemed so sorry about what happened. Now if your done, I'm gonna wait for my lawyer." He put his head down and never looked at them until they left the room.

Inside Cragen's office, Cragen asked them what they thought. "He seems legit," said Stabler. "I think Rosewater might have done something else to convince him to bring Angel to the park, but everything is linked to what she said," and pointed to Amy.

"What do you think?" asked Cragen.

"I think he's telling the truth. I would have fled too if the most powerful guy in the city wanted me dead." Amy turned to Novak. "Counselor, do we have enough for a warrant to search Rosewater's place?" she asked Novak.

"I think so. I don't think a judge would like me to interrupt their lunch break but I could probably get a warrant. I'll go now," and Novak left the room.

Stabler looked at the window and then turned to Amy and said "I underestimated you," he said. "I would like to offer my apologies to giving you hard time earlier and I guess the others would like to do the same." He nodded to the window.

Benson, Munch, Fin and Novak had their faces crammed in the tiny window. She opened the door as they hastily backed away. Benson first approached her holding out her hand.

"Congratulations and welcome to our squad," she said. Amy shook it.

"Yeah sorry about yesterday and today," said Fin and gave her a pat on the back. Munch muttered "Nice job" and Novak said almost the exact same thing Stabler said.

"Hey Casey! When are you going to get that warrant? And when are the five of you are going to get to work!" yelled Cragen from his desk.

Everybody hastily went about their business.

Judge Lena Petrovsky's chambers

"This better be good Casey," said Petrovsky. She was in the middle of a very nice lunch when Casey called and asked for two warrants. She hated to be interrupted in the middle of her lunch break.

"I need a warrant to search Alex Rosewater's place," Novak said.

Petrovsky looked at her. "You're kidding, right? Why would you want to search the Rosewater's place?"

"We have a suspect in custody that tells he was in an agreement with Rosewater to bring his daughter to the place she was murder. We also suspect that the port he owns is a base of operations in which he smuggles drugs in. I need a warrant also to search his port."

Petrovsky was still looking at her. "Do you have anything else besides circumstantial evidence? Because I would really like to get back and enjoy my…"

"We have evidence that Rosewater was after the victim's boyfriend. He had a ticket leaving the country today and also we have a diary stating clearly when Rosewater's next shipment of drugs came in."

She looked at her. "Had them over," grumbled Petrovsky and began to sign them. "Okay you got your warrants. Now do me favor."

"What?" Novak asked.

"Don't ever interrupt me on my lunch break!"

"Okay, I'll keep that in mind when I ever decide to call you for a warrant," and left swiftly out of her office. Novak began to call the others on her cell phone that she had a warrant for Rosewater's house and port.

Rosewater Residents

Hotel Room 38

Trump Tower

One Central Park West, upper west side

Cragen split up the squad. Benson and Stabler would be going to Rosewater's place while Munch, Fin, and Amy would search the port. He would be staying at the precinct just in case if something came up and he had to go somewhere.

"This is the police! We have a warrant to search the premises," shouted Benson. No one answered.

A cop came with a door rammer and busted down the door. Guns out, Benson and Stabler entered the apartment. "They were in a hurry to leave," said Stabler.

The apartment was a mess. Clothes scattered everywhere, wastebaskets upturned, and closets were ravaged. The Rosewaters were gone.

"Damn," said Benson and moved over to the master bedroom. She searched the desk and found receipts for two airplane tickets. She gasp when she saw the date. They were leaving out of La Guardia Airport today!

"Elliot! Call Cragen now! They're leaving the country today!"

Stabler came out of the master bedroom closet and pointed inside it while he dialed on his cell phone. Benson looked inside and saw a big container of betadine. "This is what they used at hospitals as a surgical scrub," she said.

"What's the betting that he used it recently?" asked Stabler. "Hey Cap," he said to his cell phone. "You better get a squad over to La Guardia Airport right away. Rosewater is leaving the country."

Rosewater's Port

Upper Bay

Brooklyn

BAM! A squad of cops following Munch, Fin, and Amy ran into the docking house. The employees who busily working stopped what they were doing shocked that the cops had enter the building. Rows of tables had white powdery substances and others had crystal clear rocks. Some even had drugs that were about to be introduced to the market.

"Jackpot," said Fin. "Okay everybody get away from the tables nice and easy. We don't want any trouble," he said.

"What do you mean trouble?" ask Amy.

"Usually they sometimes pull out guns and decide to have a standoff with us before they go down, but I don't think they'll do that here. There are so many substances around here that one gun shot could set the place on fire. It doesn't look like they carry guns," he replied while looking around.

Munch looked at him. "Well let's not take that chance. The last thing I need is my fourth wife calling me and asking where is her money for the month while my ass is lying in some morgue burnt to a crisp." He began to help the other cops escorting the employees out.

Amy looked at Fin. "He's been married four times!" she asked incredulously.

"Don't even ask. You're a lot saner without knowing," he whispered. "Trust me."

"Riiiiight. So I guess it is that bad?"

"Never mind," grumbled Fin and began to help Munch.

"What!" she shouted to him.

She sighed and began to help them and the others escorting the employees out while Fin called in a group from Narcotics.

La Guardia Airport

Grand central parkway

Queens

Cragen led a squad of cops into La Guardia. He went to one of the security guards and showed him a picture of Rosewater's face. "Yeah, I helped him pull put his bags from his car. He made his way down your left. What's the matter?" the guard asked.

Cragen told him to get guards around Rosewater's car. He then went into the airport and went to his left. Everybody gasped as he ran into the airport with the squad.

Finally he saw them going through the airport security line. He shouted to the security guards to hold them from going through the line. Alex and his wife were grabbed by two guards.

"Alex Rosewater you are under arrest for the murder of Angel Rosewater," he said and grabbed Rosewater's arm and put him in cuffs. Mrs. Rosewater looked at him with a shock look on her face. She dropped her handbag and began screaming.

"You killed her! I knew it all along. Why you son of a CENSORED! I should kill you! I'M GONNA KILL YOU!"

With that said, she launch herself to Rosewater, but the guard held on to her. Cragen began to escort Rosewater out of the airport and continued to read him his rights while the squad escorted his wife behind him. She was still screaming at him when they put him and her in a car.

SVU squad room

Novak walked in tired that night. She had been in the courthouse all day and decided to swing by to tell the others that she would arraign Rosewater tomorrow. "It's not going to be easy with all the publicity that the case is bringing," she said walking in. "My boss wants to get this out of the way and fast. I'll see you guys tomorrow." With that, she left for the night.

It had been a long day for all of them too. Everyone was trying not to fall asleep on their desk. Everyone was ready for Cragen to give the word so they could go home. However, he would not dismiss them until he made an announcement. They began to grow restless. When would he come out?

Finally he came out with a smirk. "Ladies and gents," he began. "As you all know that Amy is still new to our precinct and as a tradition all the newbie detectives have to buy coffee for everyone on the squad in the precinct."

Amy looked at him. "What!"

"All right," said Fin. "'bout time somebody bought me coffee. I'll like a black coffee with three sugars."

"I'll like a black coffee with two sugars," Benson said.

"Just black coffee for me," chimed in Stabler.

"I would like green tea, no sugar," said an amused Munch.

They gave Amy the places so she knew where to pick them up. All she was missing was the Cragen's favorite type of coffee. "I'd better have enough money for all of this," she thought.

Everybody was getting ready to leave. She still didn't have the Cragen's type of coffee he wanted in the morning. "When is the Captain going to tell me what type of coffee he likes?" she asked.

"Ahhh, yeah about that part Amy," began Benson.

"You have to guess how he like his coffee," said Stabler.

"And you have to guess his favorite place too," said Munch.

"Plus he knows the difference between our coffee from the coffee bar and a local shop," said Fin remembering how he had try to trick the captain and miserably failed.

"Well I know where he likes it from," said Amy brightly.

Everyone burst out laughing. She frowned at them.

"I do too," she protested. "In fact I'll make a bet with Munch and Fin."

"With us?" Fin asked.

"Yes. If I get it right then you two will have to apologize in front of everyone in the whole squad seeing that you guys haven't yet."

Both of them turned pink at this remark. They glared at her. "And if you get it wrong?" asked Fin menacingly.

"Then I'll give you both fifty dollars and buy you coffee or whatever you want for the rest of next week," she said.

"Deal!" Munch and Fin both shouted and they shook on it.


	4. Chapter 3: drinks, bullets, and a past

Joe's Coffee shop

Corner of e. 72nd street and Lexington avenue

Upper east side

May 18, 2005

"What a morning," groaned Amy as she pulled in Joe's Coffee Shop. She had made six stops. One stop was to get herself breakfast, the second stop was for Benson's coffee, then Stabler's, then Munch's tea, and then Fin's coffee. This was the last stop. She went inside the diner.

Now Joe was a friendly character. He knew everyone that always came in to get a cup of coffee, especially the regulars. So it came as a surprise when Amy walked in and asked what Cragen had in the mornings.

"Ahhh," he said, "So your one of Cragen's kids?"

"Yeah," replied Amy, "I saw the logo on his cup a couple days ago and so since I have to get him some coffee today, I thought I would try his way."

"Right. Two black coffees with one sugar coming right up!"

So Joe got two black coffees with one sugar prepared while Amy silently laughed to herself. It made sense. Fin liked three sugars in his, Benson liked two, Stabler wanted plain black coffee, and Munch wanted tea. So someone had to have at least one sugar in their coffee. Joe set two coffee cups on his counter.

"There yah go miss. Hope you enjoy it!"

"Thanks!" said Amy and left the shop.

While driving along Lexington Avenue she began to think about the bet she made with Munch and Fin yesterday. She smirked to herself when she stopped at a red light on Lexington and 79th Street Transverse RD. She began to think about Munch's reaction to her joining the squad from the past couple of days. First day he didn't even look her in the eye, but he talk to her. Second day he looked her in the eye and talked to her. So what would the third day bring? "Perhaps," she thought as the light turned green, "He'll call me by my name. Maybe he'll give me something. Nah, better not get too hopeful on that one." She smiled sadly to herself. "Why? Why did it have to be me?" she said to herself. "I'll never understand why he put me in that orphanage." She sighed and continued driving.

Svu Squad room

"Well, well look who's here," said Munch with a smirk.

Amy set down the tray of coffees and one tea and began to hand them out. "There," she said. "Where's the Captain?"

Cragen strolled out of his office as if he was on cue. He saw his favorite coffee shop logo on the cup. He grabbed it and took a sip of it.

"Well may I be the first to congratulate you Amy. You have passed the test."

The squad almost dropped their cups. "WHAT!" they all shouted.

"Yeah," said Cragen laughing at their shocked faces, "She got it right. How did you do it?" he asked her.

"Well the first day Benson send me to your office, I got bored so I started to look around. My eyes fell on the trash can and that coffee cup. The owner knows you I guess so he helped me out."

Everybody was still in shock. Munch and Fin were looking at her with pitying look. Before they could even ask if they had to apologize, Amy shook her head.

"Sorry. A deal is a deal. You promised that if I won you two would apologize. So?" she asked them.

"Wonderful," said Cragen. "Now you two can become good buddies again like you use to be."

They both sighed. Munch began to scratch the back of his head and turned to Fin. "I'm sorry about what I did, you know the tackling part and the car," he muttered.

"Plus the insulting part," interrupted Amy.

"Oh. Yeah, that part too."

"Yeah. I'm…umm…sorry about the black eyes and the insulting part," said Fin. They both shrugged and shook each other's hand and gave a pat on the back.

"There! Are you happy now?" they both said.

"Yeah, I guess," said Amy shaking her head, laughing.

"We'll now that were buddies again," said Cragen, "I want you guys to head over to CSU and see what else they found at the crime scenes."

Arraignment 57

"What's next?" asked Judge Pamela Mizener. It was noon and she wanted to enjoy her lunch.

"The people versus Alex Rosewater. One count of first degree murder and three counts of drug possession."

Judge Mizener looked amused. "How does your defendant plea?" she asked.

"Not guilty," said Alan Cumming, Alex's lawyer.

"Bail, Miss Novak?" she asked.

"Due to the client's unlimited amount of wealth and resources we asked that he be reprimanded without bail," said Novak.

"What resources?" asked Cumming.

"Like owning a port, a yacht…" Novak began to say.

"Okay, okay. I get the picture Miss Novak. Due to being a politician, Mr. Rosewater is reprimanded without bail and will sent to a high security facility of his choice.

She slammed the gavel and court was dismissed. Novak packed her things and left the court room. Security guards escorted Rosewater out.

Outside, Novak was swamped by the media, eager to get pieces of the trial. She pushed through the crowd just to get to her car. Alex's lawyer ran to her car and knocked on the window.

"Hey Casey can we make a…"

"Sorry Alan. The ADA's office wants to take this one trial. No deal." Casey turned on her car and left Alex's lawyer who was being swamped by the media.

Csu crime lab

West End and 11th avenue

Manhattan

They entered the building. Benson and Stabler went to a room on the right while and Munch, Fin, and Amy went to one on the left.

The crime lab technician in the room Benson and Stabler went into began to explain to them what they found. "That chemical you found is what they used in hospitals to clean up bodies before they do emergency surgery. They can only get it through licensed providers." Then he pointed to what look like car mats.

"We didn't search his car," said Benson.

"I know, but some people brought them to check for any bodily fluids. I sprayed an aluminum substance to see if there was any blood that was washed off. Can you kill the lights?" he asked.

The chemical reacted and showed a big blue spot on the carpet mat. Benson and Stabler were shocked.

"Well I'll be damn," said Stabler, "Amy was right on the money."

"Jeez, she's that smart and she's on the force? She should be here instead of SVU," said Benson with a surprising smile on her face.

Meanwhile in the other room...

"What you guys found in the pier was amazing. All the stuff you see here is probably worth over half a million at least," said the technician, "I had to call in someone from Narcotics just to identify this stuff."

Fin let out a low whistle. "Nice. So he's like a Wal-Mart of drugs. Buyers come to him to get what they need and then they turn around and sell the stuff on the streets. No wonder we had such a big problem tracing the stuff while I was in Narcotics. The people that would talk would be on his hit list forever."

"So what's all here?" asked Munch.

"Marijuana, Cocaine, you name it, he had it. This dude had to be rich to afford this," said the technician.

"He was," said Amy. "He was a politician."

"Well he's bound to get elected next year, now isn't he?" he said.

Outside in the hall...

"Casey just got off the phone with me," said Benson. "Sounds like they're sending Rosewater to a very nice, high security place."

"What, Sing-Sing or Rikers wasn't good enough for him?" asked Munch.

"They want to protect him from the media and other people who want to get him," she said.

They walked down the hallway and out of the building. They were walking to their cars, talking to each other, not taking a care a black car was following them. "So what do we do now?" asked Stabler.

SCREEEETCH!

Before someone could answer his question, the black car sped up. One of the people in the car rolled down a tinted black window took aim with a gun at the detectives.

"EVERYONE GET DOWN!" yelled Stabler.

BAM! BAM! BAM! Three gunshots were fired as everyone got down behind a car. Munch seized Amy by the neck and pulled her down with him.

BAM! BAM! BAM! More gunshots were fired. Everyone took out their guns and began to fire at the black car, all except for Amy who was putting in an emergency call with some difficulty because Munch kept trying to keep her head down every time it rose an inch. "Suspect is in a black sedan, shooting at five detectives at the Manhattan CSU Crime Lab! Send back up immediately!" she shouted to her phone.

SCREEETCH! The black sedan began to drive away. Everyone looked up as they saw the black car going away. Munch was still holding Amy's head down.

"Get...off...of...ME!" Amy yelled while kicking Munch off of her. She got up and began running with Stabler, Benson, and Fin. Munch got up and was right behind her. They stopped right in the middle of the street to take aim but the sedan was gone.

"Who the hell was that?" panted Benson.

"Somebody who doesn't want us alive," said Stabler.

Fin heard sirens and saw the back up Amy had requested for. "Late as usual," he muttered.

Everyone turned their heads to the coming cop cars. Somebody was determine to make sure they were not alive alright. Somebody who had a grudge against them and was determined to see them dead.

SVU squad room

Novak ran into the office. She had just heard it on the media and came to tell Cragen what had just happen. Cragen was on the phone when she entered his office.

"Yes, I understand. Thank you," and he hung up the phone. Novak began to talk, but he interrupted her. "I already know Casey."

"Then you'll be happy to know that I did some digging. It seems Alex made a phone call fifteen minutes before they were shot at," she said and she threw some phone records from the facility Rosewater was staying on Cragen's desk. "I got the transcripts too."

Cragen was grabbing his coat when he stopped dead. "Why that son of a CENSORED. Where is he being kept at Casey?"

"At some facility in Staten Island. Silver Lake I think," she replied.

Cragen grabbed his coat and walked quickly out of his office. Novak had to jog just to keep up with him. "Slow down will you? I can barely keep up with you in heels. You've gotta calm down.'

"Oh, I'm calm alright, I'm very calm. Where are you going?"

"I'm going with you just to make sure you don't screw this up," she said.

SILVER LAKE FACILITY

ROCKLAND AND MANOR ROAD

STATEN ISLAND

Cragen walked into the facility in a very bad mood. He was past his boiling point. Nothing made him madder than hell if one or all of his detectives were in danger. Novak was still running to keep up with him.

"Alex's lawyer his on way. He's is not too happy about this."

"So I am Casey."

"Don, stop! If you lose it in there while you're talking to him..." she made a grab for his jacket. Cragen pushed her hand away and wheeled around. Novak took a step back. She was not used to the look that he was giving her now.

"Casey, I don't like it when someone puts a hit on one of my detectives. In this case that CENSORED put a hit on all of them. I know he did it whether him or his CENSORED lawyer deny it. He just made my day and now I'm gonna make his." He began to walk at a fast pace again.

Novak grabbed his arm and pulled him to a stop. "Just calm down," she said exasperated. "I don't like it either, but you've got to understand that you are not the only who is angry here. I am too! But I'm not marching into some jail and about to take it out some guy that we have in custody! We gotta do this by the book if we want to get him on this, alright?"

Cragen sighed. Novak was right. If Alex did this, then they had to play by the rules. "Okay," he said. They waited outside of a small room until Alex's lawyer showed up.

He showed up fifteen minutes later in a very bad mood. Novak was getting off a nearby payphone when she saw him come in. Cragen stood up and Novak followed right behind Alex's lawyer.

"It's four something in the afternoon and here you are dragging me out of my nice..." Cumming began.

"Oh shut up," said Novak as they entered the small room. Alex was already there, waiting for them. He had a smirk on his face.

"I suppose you are here because of the shooting Captain Cragen." Rosewater said pleasantly. Cragen glared at him.

"The ADA has agreed to offer a deal for the safety of the five detectives that were shot at today," said Novak. "Either he tells us who he hired to shoot a whole squad of detectives or he gets the death penalty.

"What kind of deal is that!" exclaimed Cumming.

"We were already seeking the death penalty before he did that little stunt of his. If he tells us who he hired to shoot a squad of detectives, we'll reduce his sentence to life in prison. No parole either," she added as Cumming began to ask.

"Wait a minute here! You don't even have proof that he hired people to shoot them!"

"Oh yes we do," said Cragen angrily. "We checked on your wife just to see if she placed any type of communication, but she has been in our custody. You see we've been trying to relocate her and the only access she would have to any type of communication would be anything in a precinct, which means every move of hers was being watched. However, we checked your phone records from here and what did we find? During your free time you were placing a call fifteen minutes before the shootings began! Can you explain that?"

The lawyer was getting very angry now. "How do you even know the time?" he asked.

"BECAUSE ONE OF MY PEOPLE PUT IN AN EMERGENCY CALL RIGHT AFTER THE SHOOTINGS BEGAN!" roared Cragen.

The lawyer nearly fell over his chair. He regained his balance and whispered to Alex. After that, he straightened his tie.

"Okay, we'll take the deal," he said.

Rosewater took a deep breath and then said, "Okay, I placed the call. During my free time, I went to the phone room here and I called two of my best hit men, Alan and Ian. I gave them the names of your detectives and I told them where the precinct was and to follow the detectives. Whenever the time was right, I told them to kill anyone of them. Seems like they failed or you wouldn't be here now would you? Miserable old..."

"Where do they live?" asked Cragen trying to keep his temper down.

"They live on the same building I do, fifth floor."

"How did you find out the other detectives' names?" asked Novak.

"When they sent me here yesterday, I began to rummage through some old newspapers of their achievements. That's how I found out," he said smiling.

Cragen could not hold back any longer. "If you ever pulled the little stunt you just did today, I'll personally see that they put the needle in your arm," he hissed and he stormed out of the room. Novak gathered her things and went after him leaving Cumming speechless and Rosewater in his thoughts.

Outside of the room, Novak was mad. "That comment was out of line. You know better than that."

"Damn right," he said and began to walk fast pace again. Novak sighed and ran to keep up with him. "Wait up! How many times do I have to tell you that I can't run in heels?"

SvU Squad room

He walked into the squad room. He had dropped Novak at the courthouse so she could get two warrants for the arrests. He had headed over to the crime lab but an officer had told him that they went back to their precinct.

"WHY THE HELL YOU GUYS LEFT THE AREA!" he yelled.

"Nice to see that you're in cheerful spirits Cap," said Munch.

"The media was pure hell, so we left. But we made sure we weren't being followed," Stabler leaning back in his chair.

Cragen sighed. "Novak is getting a warrant right now to arrest the people who did this you guys." He looked at his watch and saw that it was 5:30. "Who wants take out?" he asked them.

"I'm hungry," said Amy. "So I'll eat anything."

The phone rang and Cragen picked it up. It was Novak.

"Listen," she said. "I got the warrants. I send another squad to pick those two up. Is the..."

"Yeah they're fine," he said.

"We'll get them Don, don't worry," she said. "I'll call you when we get them, okay?"

The remainder of the day was really spent in silence. Novak had called and said they got them and that they were in Rikers being booked. Finally, they began to leave one by one and Amy went upstairs right after Cragen left.

She put on her boxing gloves and began to practice her kickboxing moves on the punch bag that was upstairs. The day had gotten to her; someone had tried to kill her friends. Then after while she got tired and took off her gloves. She grabbed her gun and went on the rooftop to relax.

It was cool and breezy that night. She sat their on the roof thinking about the whole day. So much had happen that some parts of the day were blank. Her friends were shot at and if she could had the chance, she would wring Rosewater's neck for what he did.

CREEEAAK!

Amy stood up and pulled out her gun. She pointed it into the shadows. After what happen today she was not going to let someone shoot at her again. "Whoever you are, you better come out if you don't want to be crippled for life," she said.

"Easy. It's just me," said a familiar voice.

Munch loomed out of the darkness. Amy put her gun away. "What are you doing here so late?" she asked.

"I should be asking you that question," he said taking off his hat.

"I'm poor. I have nowhere to go dumb ass. Unlike you who goes home in a nice, cozy apartment waiting for one your wives to call you and ask for more money," she said with a hint of jealousy in her voice.

"I didn't come here to discuss my marital status with you. I came to explain my actions that I did ten years ago."

She looked at him. "Oh so now you want explain after a ten year gap. What ever happened to sending a Hallmark card entitled 'I'm sorry for what I did ten years ago', hmmm? I mean Hallmark has any card for any occasion and they even have a 99 cent section. You couldn't spare 99 cents on a stupid card?" She walked past him and inside the precinct again. They were thumping sounds which meant she was kickboxing again. Munch sighed, went inside and shut the door.

He moved around her so he wouldn't get hit with the punching bag or with one of her fists. She was very mad now. He sat on one of the bunk beds and watched her for the longest time.

Indeed, she was very angry. She kept punching and kicking the bag really fast until it was swinging in every direction. Finally she missed the bag and it caught her in the stomach. "Ooofff," she cried and went down.

The bag swung back and then came back at her again. Munch readied himself to leap up and catch it, but Amy was much quicker. She jumped up and delivered a right hook as it came at her. The force of the punch send it back and came out her again, but she caught it. Munch relaxed and she took off her helmet, mouth piece, and boxing gloves. She put them on a table and sat down next to him on the bed.

"I'm listening," she said. She was looking at the floor when she said it. He gave a puzzled look at her before taking a deep breath. He took off his glasses and put them on the table next to her boxing items.

"What I did ten years ago, I thought I was doing the right thing. I knew if I accepted the responsibility of taking care of you then...then...well...I knew what came with it. Questions like 'Where would you go to school?' and 'Who could I trust to leave with you when I got slammed with overtime?' always came up in my mind during the meetings. I always thought I could pick you up after school, but I didn't want to disturb your mind any more by seeing all the things I saw. When you lost your parents and when I saw how fragile your mind was, I couldn't do that."

"In other words you didn't want me to become a serial killer or deranged person who blew up on every insulting comment said to me," she said still not looking at him.

He nodded. "That and I never wanted to give a kid the responsibility of taking care of me. About half of my life is gone and I still don't know how to do the dishes. I rely on a dishwasher for that job."

She smiled at this comment. He saw this and began to feel more confident. "I thought placing you in an orphanage would be the right thing to do. I know the system would be responsible of taking care of you, so if anything happen I could blame it on the system. It seemed like a fool proof plan, but I didn't realized what it would do to you in the long run."

"So when you turned eighteen, I thought to myself 'I think now is a good time to explain what I did.' But when I showed up at the orphanage they told me you left that morning. I went into a depression-like state. I went on a drinking binge for weeks until my old partner found out what I was doing and he put a stop to that."

Now Amy looked at him and stood from the bed. She looked at him straight in the eye. The last two statements hit her with such fury that before she knew what she was doing, she lashed out her anger like a samurai striking someone with his sword in one clean swipe.

"SO YOU THOUGHT THAT WHEN I TURNED EIGHTEEN, THAT I WOULD UNDERSTAND EVERYTHING THEN, HUH? EVERYTHING WOULD BE JUST HUNKY-DORY! WELL LET ME GET SOMETHING STRAIGHT! JUST BECAUSE I HAD RECENTLY LOST MY PARENTS AND GONE FROM ONLY CHILD TO ORPHAN DOESN'T MEAN I WOULDN'T HAVE UNDERSTAND. I WOULD HAVE! I KNEW WHAT YOU DID FOR A LIVING! DAD TOLD ME! MY GOD YOU ARE REALLY PATHETIC! YOU WENT ON A DRINKING BINGE BECAUSE YOU THOUGHT I HAD LEFT FOREVER AND YOU HADN'T GOT THE CHANCE TO EXPLAIN YOUR ACTIONS! THAT IS REALLY A LOUSY EXCUSE! YOU COULD HAVE EXPLAINED IT THEN AND YOU KNOW IT!"

There were tears in her eyes now. She began to walk around, sobbing as she did. "I was alone for three years in a place I thought I would never end up in. You want to know what that's like? You have to watch everything you own so the others don't steal it from you. Your damn social worker doesn't give a CENSORED because she's too busy with other cases. So when I turned eighteen, I was ready to get out of that mad house you put me in. I'm surprised that I didn't go insane inside that place."

"My parents had left a will, leaving all their possessions and a car that they had bought for me before they died. I had no where to go. That's how I met Leena in the Bronx. I got lost so I asked her where I was. She was on break and she offered me something to eat. After I told her I had no where to go, she took me to her place and I lived there for awhile before joining the force in '98."

"But I didn't want to stay there forever. The Bronx reminded me of the orphanage; I had to watch my back every single second. So I went and applied for a transfer after six years in the Homicide Unit; the only one opening was SVU in Manhattan. I thought you were still in Baltimore all this time. I guess I was wrong."

She sat down next to him again and began to cry. She sobbed miserably into her hands. Munch was pretty close to tears too. "All this time she kept it up...it's a wonder she hasn't had a mental breakdown yet," he thought to himself. He took off his coat and wrapped it her around as he cradled her in his arms.

Amy cried into his shirt. She didn't care that she was the only person she hated in her life. For once in her life, it felt good to feel comforted by a person she knew. Munch's tears now had started falling down his cheek and one of them landed on her head. Amy looked up at him. "You're crying," she said. "I've never seen a grown man cry."

He looked at her. "And it had to be me first, huh?" he said softly. "I'm sorry...I never knew. I am so sorry."

She looked up at him. "I thought I never would be saying this, but I forgive you. Something tells me I should and I don't know why."

Exhausted, she leaned her head on his arm. He smiled and he finally felt at peace. After ten years, it felt good to have the closure he so longed for in his own life. Right before Amy dozed completely he told her, "You're the bravest girl I know, Amy," and she too finally fell asleep, with the closure she had so longed for many years too.

The next morning, Amy stirred from her sleep. She got up, Munch's coat slipping off of her. Munch was no where to be found. She looked at the clock on the small table. It was 7:30 in the morning!

She had slept in! Anxiety began to replace her grogginess. She began to put her boxing stuff away. She put on her glasses and began to put on new clothes. She was in the middle of tying her shoes when Munch came upstairs from the squad room. He had made breakfast for the both of them. He looked at her with confusion.

"What's the rush?" he asked.

"I have to get ready for work and sneak out without the others knowing that I am..."

"Relax. On trial days, the Captain lets us come in a little later. And the others don't know that you're poor?"

She looked away from him. "Yes and I want to keep it that way," she muttered with some embarrassment. She looked what he had fixed for her; toast and an apple. She took the piece of toast and examined it. "Fancy breakfast in bed. I guess there wasn't much food, now was there?"

He nodded. "Well yeah. Plus I'm simple. I don't make elaborate stuff for meals." He sighed and looked around the room. "Don't you have more stuff than this?" he asked.

"It's in storage. Sometimes I go and dig through stuff, but most of it is stuff I don't need..."

"And yet you still keep it with the hopes of owning your own place so you can enjoy it again," he said with a sly smile. He had guessed what she was thinking in her mind. She nodded for a reply. "Since you're family, why don't you move in until you can find a place of your own?" Munch asked.

She took a bite out of her piece of toast. She was chewing and thinking at the same time. She finally swallowed and looked at him.

"Well it can have some benefits. First off, I'll teach you how to cook" (Munch gave Amy an incredulous look at the mention of this), "make sure you don't get in anymore fights with your partners, and try to keep you out of trouble. I guess something good can come out of it, but..."

"You're afraid that everyone will find out your secret and you'll be embarrassed since you're living with me."

Once again, Munch was right on the money. She nodded to him. He sat on the bed and looked at her in the eye.

"Sometime in our life we are going to fall down. Sometimes we fall down many times and yet we still manage to find the strength to get up and keep going. But once in awhile, we need help getting up. Even though we had always got up by ourselves in the past, sometimes that extra help is needed just to get on our feet before we start going where we need to go."

Amy was silent for a while. "You know I got a whole bunch of crap lying around here," she said finally.

"All the more reason for us to pack right now," he said with a smile.


	5. Chapter 4: all's well that ends well

Trail Part 77

May 19, 2005

Judge Graboski had Novak and Cummings approach. "If I'm not mistaken, all the agreements of the deal have been meant?" he asked. He flipped through the papers that Novak had given him.

"Yes, your honor. The people had fulfill their agreement as well as my defendant," said Cumming.

"Very well then," said Graboski, "You may step down."

"Since the agreements of the deal have been met, you shall start your term today Mr. Rosewater."

The judge slammed the gavel and everybody left the courtroom. Novak gathered her things and left the courtroom last. Outside, the media had questions about the trial and the shooting from yesterday and she wanted to avoid them at all cost.

However, avoiding the media wasn't all that easy. She still got slammed with a pretty large group of people. She finally decided to make a statement to them.

"After what happen yesterday, the ADA's Office decided that the safety of the detectives overrides us seeking the death penalty against Rosewater who had information on the shootings. This information led us to two suspects who are suspected of the shootings and they are now in police custody."

"Miss Novak, it is said that Rosewater would have got leniency with his political power. Is this true?" asked a reporter.

"No, Rosewater is still a regular citizen with more obligations to fulfill. Politician or not, he would have still been prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Now if you will..."

"Miss Novak, do you have any comments about the two suspect shooters that the police have in custody at this time?" asked another reporter.

"No I don't. Now please let me get to my car," said Novak angrily.

SVU squad room

Novak walked in into the now busy precinct. Munch and the new kid were still not here even though it was still past nine. After telling them about last night's and today's events, everybody wasn't too happy.

"So that's it then," said Benson "He gets away what he did to his own daughter by calling a hit on all of us forcing the ADA to deal with him in exchange that he calls off the hit and gives us the location of the two people who tried to kill us. It's not right."

"And there's no justice for his daughter," added Fin.

"I know," said Novak. "I didn't think it was right either, but your safety meant a lot more to me than some stupid politician getting away with murder. We had a perfect case, but..."

"It fell apart when he made that stupid call. He should have been denied phone privileges," said Stabler.

"Then he would have cried out abuse and we'd be in a whole other mess. At least his hit men are being prosecuted by McCoy. He'll give them something to think about in prison if they have any time at all," pointed out Cragen.

Fin began to play with Munch's Hawaiian doll. Surprisingly Munch had pasted the thing together pretty well. You could not tell that it actually broke. "Speaking of messes, I wonder where my partner is," he said.

"Why? You're the one that picks him up and keeps telling him to hire a driver," said Cragen.

"Well yeah he wasn't there at his apartment today. Maybe he somehow convinced the new kid to pick him up and she got lost finding his place. Explains why she's late too. Now I can finally sleep in," he said still poking at the Hawaiian doll.

"Speaking of the new girl, what are we going to do with her?" asked Stabler, "After all, she did figure out the case pretty much on her own."

"Why don't we throw a surprise party at her favorite place, like Chauncey's or something to that effect?" asked Novak.

"Excellent! I call Munch and tell him to call in sick so he can distract the newbie while we get a hold of her friend and ask where her favorite place was," said Benson picking up the phone.

"Fin and I will pick up the party favors," said Cragen and went to grab his coat.

"Can we get noise makers! I love noise makers!" exclaimed Fin to Cragen.

John munch's apartment

"It's neat for being a two bedroom apartment," said Amy walking in with her fifth box.

The apartment was neat for a guy living by himself. She had seen worse places than his. Munch got a little offended at her comment.

"What? You just notice that now? Not all men are slobs you know," he said looking up from an open box.

"I know that. It's just most apartments I've seen are pure messy, like my old partner," she said shaking her head. "That's the last box by the way," she added.

"Only seven boxes of nothing but clothes you don't fit in, books, and other items, what a record," he said.

Munch was digging through a box containing what look like to be nothing but packing peanuts. He finally came across a book that shocked him. He read the title twice before saying something.

"The Big Book of the Unexplained by Doug Moench? You've got to be kidding me! I always wanted to read this! But you don't strike me as a person who sees a conspiracy in a five year old's lemonade stand or in everything for that matter."

"Well then go ahead and read it. I mean it's not like all I have is manga, Harry Potter, and other kiddy books. I read other stuff too yah know," she said.

He kept digging. "A Super Nintendo Entertainment System and fifty-some odd games? A car guide from 2000? No wonder you know a lot about technology and cars too."

She took it away from him. "This stuff wasn't restricted for boys alone and it's not like I eat and breathe this stuff. I rollerblade and kick box most of the time. Those are my two favorite hobbies. Once in awhile, I play soccer with Leena."

The phone rang and Munch went to pick it up. After awhile, he hung up. "Who was that?" Amy asked.

"Some random idiot asking if this was pizza parlor," he said.

"Ohhh, okay. So where am I going to put this stuff?" she asked

"In that small room over there. Seems I'll have to get a few shelves so we can put up your books. Also we'll have to get you some nice clothes for work. No offense though, it's just the Captain wants us to look nice."

"Okay, but I don't see anything wrong with my hoodies and jeans," she muttered.

"Well let me call the Captain and tell him we're calling in sick. Do you have your cell phone?" he asked.

"Sure" and she tossed it to him. While he went to make the call privately, she went into the room that she would be sleeping in and walked inside.

Apparently this was like a storage room for him. On the small table she noticed a photo frame and went to look at it. She gasped who she saw who it was. She listened for him ending the phone call soon then took it out of the frame to inspect it.

It was Sarah Logan, the reporter who was raped and then killed in a bombing in her own apartment during her trial. She turned it on the back and saw a little note scribbled there.

Hey John!

I want to thank you for all the hard work you have been doing on my case. I can't wait until we nail this guy. You remind so much of my brother in many ways. I really appreciate the card you send me so I thought of sending you a photo of me and a little thank you note inscribed here would be enough thanks for the card. Thanks again for being there for me when I needed someone.

See you soon!

Sarah

She looked at it for the longest time then put it back in the frame and on the dresser. She would ask the Captain about it later. Right now she didn't want to ruin the happiness that her uncle was feeling.

She heard him getting off the phone, so she began to busy herself stacking boxes. Apparently these were from his divorces. Most of them had paperwork in them.

He walked in. "Ooppss! I forgot I had these in here. Seems we have to do more cleaning. Oh well, we have all day I guess"

"Yeah," said Amy nervously. While he was helping her put away the boxes, she took another glance at the picture. She was very pretty with her long hair and smile. Apparently she was very smart too from what she had heard by word of mouth. Apparently Uncle John had a crush on her and Amy couldn't imagine what pain he went and probably still went through when he found out that she died in a bombing. For the rest of the day, they cleaned up the room, went and bought new bookshelves (Munch had to get more nails than bookshelves because he kept losing them), got sky blue paint for her new room, had lunch, and then they went shopping for new clothes. She could not shake off that girl's face and the relationship (if there was one) she had with her uncle.

That night her room was done. They were both covered in paint and they were sitting on the floor, eating Chinese take out and admiring their work. "Nice job with the paint Uncle John," said Amy.

"Well you did an excellent job with the bookshelves. I don't think I couldn't have done better," he said laughing.

"Really now? I would think because you kept losing every nail that you could grab your hands on!" she laughed.

He looked around then at his watch and said "We should go and celebrate at your favorite place."

"You mean you want to go to the Bronx and go to Podley's Place?" she asked disbelieving.

"If it's your favorite place then yeah. I'll drive you to the Bronx or Canada for that matter. We should wash up then, but call the others and see if they want to come, okay?"

"Alright," and she picked up her cell phone. After they both took showers, Amy began to put on her new outfit. It consisted of a brown blazer and matching pants with a nice white shirt. A short brown top that went as far as to her waist would be put on top of the white shirt. It looked cute with her glasses and ponytail. She was about to put on her blazer when Munch knocked on her door.

"May I come in?" he asked through the door.

"Yeah, I'm decent," she replied.

Munch rolled his eyes and smirked before opening the door. He entered with a package wrap in some paper and gave it to her. She looked at him oddly.

"What is this?" she asked

"Open it," he said and watched her tear through the paper and gasp.

It was his holster from when he worked in Baltimore and part of his time on SVU. He had put it away when they came out with the ones that you could put on your waist. He had always saved it just in case he wanted to wear it again, but he never did.

Amy turned around over and over. It had his initials inscribed in the leather. It was black and a little big, but with some adjustments Munch got it to fit her just right.

"It's twenty-some years old. It's just about as old as I have been working in the force. Never thought I would save it for this long, but I guess I'd better keep it in the family or otherwise I might sell it or something," he said. "Here put on your badge on and let me see the outfit."

She did and turned around in a full circle. "Who would ever think that being cop could be so stylish?" she said in a prissy tone.

"Since today," he said and went to get up leave. "You might scare every baddie on the street with that outfit."

"Or get jumped by some admirer of mine," she added.

She ran to him and gave him a hug. He was surprised by this action of hers, but he smiled afterwards. "Okay, I love you too. Now please get off me."

She let go and before he left the room, he stopped and look at the table. He took the picture of Sarah Logan from the small table and went to his room. Amy grabbed her car keys waited for Munch at the door. The feeling of sadness began to replace the happiness she had. Why was it that she was feeling this way when she thought of Sarah and him?

Podley's place

149th street and southern blvd.

Munch and Amy walked in. Podley's Place was a cozy bar on the corner of 149th Street and Southern Blvd. Amy and Leena would always hang out here most of the time after solving a case.

They made their way to the back of the room. She had reserved a large back room for all the squad and Novak. When they entered, everyone leaped from their hiding places and shouted "SURPRISE!"

Leena, Benson, Stabler, Fin, Cragen, and Novak had been decorating the room all day. When Benson had call Munch that day to tell them of the plan, she had ask him to call her friend so she could join in the happy gathering. Munch was to keep Amy busy all day until late that night.

Amy was smiling and laughing with the rest of them after they had explain this to her. "I'd never thought or suspected this coming," she said with an amused smile on her face.

She took a sip of her root beer. Leena had explain to the others that she was not a drinker and that she believed it was stupid to drink in the first place. So they all had order root beer for that night. Leena said Amy called it the drink of the gods.

They took pictures and joked a lot. "Wow guys," said Amy taking a breather from the laughing, "I'd never suspected of a conspiracy where the whole squad and my best friend would join forces and create a surprise party."

"If you think that this was a conspiracy then wait till you here mine about a five year old's lemonade stand..." began Munch and everybody shook their heads as Munch began to explain his theory about why five year olds run lemonade stands. Finally everyone shouted "GIVE IT A REST JOHN!" and everyone, including Munch, began to laugh all through the night.


End file.
